Average
by FL1P-flop
Summary: CHP5 up! Your average highschool girl, with your average highschool drama. SyuusukexOC, RyomaxSakuno, Others. WARNING: Very slow moving story!.
1. A transfer!

**Author's Note**: allo. :). I'm a noob here XD and it's actually my first attempt on a prince of tennis fanfic (I've only done a few unsuccesful w-inds. ones before). Hope it goes well 8/. hahh, sorry, not too good with Author's notes, or summaries for that matter XD.

**Story/Pairing**: But yeah, the main character should be Aoi original character and the pairing later on should be Syuusuke x Aoi. (sorry if I mis-pell anything ;o;). choo, and maybe Sakuno x Ryoma later on, and others. Not too sure how I'm gonna do with this 8/.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its' characters (though I love it) :). I do own Aoi and storyline :D.

**Reference**:  
Hai - Yes.  
Eto - Umm/Uhh.  
Iyada - No.  
Ne - 'kay?. (in reference to text used below).  
Anata wa dare? - Who are you?.  
Che - Aoi's way of saying, "Dammit." (or along the lines of that).  
Demo - But.  
Please correct me if anythings wrong /. My japanese is bad XD.

------------- Scene Change  
It's 1st POV., so all thoughts should come from her.

CHAPTER**ONE**: A transfer?

"A TRANSFER?"

I grinned as Sakuno literally jumped off the desk in shock. "Haaaaii," I saluted her. "I saw him while passing by the office this morning. And well, I couldn't help but eavesdrop a bit so I snuck behind the door and overheard Takatori-sensei saying something about homeroom 3-D."

Sakuno pulled a hand over her hanging mouth before leaning into me again. "Eh? But isn't our homeroom 3-D?"

My grin widened. "Yeeepp. And guess what that means Sakuno?"

Her fingers fell to brush her chin. "Etooo.."

Without recieving an answer, I nodded solemnly.

"EH! He should be coming here in a few minutes!"

I nodded again, this time laughing. Sakuno is the kind of friend I love being around. She's clueless, dim-witted, but smart (actually), yet clumsy. I always wonder how she gets around like that.

"And guess what else Sakuno? He's pretty cute for a seventh grader," I winked. "He's got blackish-green hair to about here," I leveled my hands to my chin, "well, it looked green anyway but I'm not sure. And he's about your height. OH! And he was holding a racket.. the atmosphere around him looked pretty tense though."

Sakuno withdrew back into her thoughts for awhile, I premised, since she seemed to roam around in her head. Likewise, I slumped into my chair briefly and gazed outside to an average morning's painting of endless skies. Packs of students started to barge in at this time, and we all impatiently awaited the rings of the morning bell.

You'd probably know this already, but Sakuno happens to be my best friend. Our mornings are usually spent casually in our homeroom classroom, like now. She goes over homework with me occasionally and on other circumstances, we'll flip too the gosip topic (which is rare, really. She doesn't talk about that stuff much). And then sometimes it's random talk.

This morning it was boy talk (you know, random) and Sakuno was hit with one of those random moments of musing.

"Hmm.. I wonder," she pondered.

"Wonder...?"

"Ah!" she snapped her head up. "Oh, it's nothing."

..Weird girl.

"But anyway, do you think he's planning to be a Seigaku regular? Maybe that's why he transfered here?"

I started to fiddle with a pen. "Pfft, you're kidding right? He's a freshman, he'd never make it over any of them. Unless he's got tough luck."

Sakuno nodded, "That's right. What am I thinking?" She childishly stuck out her tongue.

Our conversation dragged on for a good fifteen minutes. It was all targeted on that new kid. Oddly, I've always had this kind of.. amusement, I guess you could say, for Sakuno to get a bf. It'd just be nice to see and something she deserved. You could understand my excitement when I saw that transfer.

But anyways, no more of thinking and onto the story. A few minutes subsequent, the teacher finally came to class on time, which was an unusual first, and with the transfer as expected. That sticky atmosphere around him that I mentioned earlier was still lurking around somewhere.

He did a vague and brief introduction. 'Echizen Ryoma, yoroshiku' in a pretty low but feminine voice. The biggest surprise came after the intro.

"Aoi!" Sakuno tapped my shoulder twice. "I was right! That's the boy I met on the subway!"

I lifted my eyebrows. "Ehhhh. It's love unrequited."

"I- Iyada!" She started to laugh, hiding another one of those frequent blushes. "I was just mentioning it.."

I smiled when she retreated back to her seat.

It's a tennis freak.

Plus a clueless girl.

So, tennis plus clueless equals..

Equals..

Hm. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself on this.

"Sakuno, go for it!" I whispered. "Maybe this time you guys can really hit it off!"

"A- Aoi!" She returned the whisper, worriedly. "W- What're you talking about? I don't think he remembers me." She sweat-dropped. "Let's leave it at that, ne?"

-----------------------

"..Anata wa dare?"

"E- Eh! You don't remember?"

Echizen fixed his eyes on her for a long while without fretting. After contemplating a bit, he opened his mouth again.

"..No."

OH MY GAA. What an indecisive guy! I slapped my forehead and cursed under my breath. Seriously, don't tell me he forgot about her! What an ignorant, cocky, stubborn guy! Mann Sakuno's in a tight position right now.. Should I walk over there? Nahh.. he'll find it akward. He'll think it's a set-up. I mean, c'mon, I'm walking out from behind a bush, talking to him for the first time, and then I'm covering for her. But Sakunooo.. Areehhh.. Need to figure out something. She's speechless.

I peeped over my shoulder and watched the freshman jog around the tennis courts.

"Fight-O, Seigaku, Fight-O, Fight-O.." they chanted.

Oh. Wait. Hm. I wonder if that'll work.

Che. Got no choice.

"FIGHT-O FIGHT-O!" I cried, popping out of the bush. Following them, I jogged closer to Sakuno by the second. "FIIGHHTT-OOOH!" The freshmen eyed me from head to toe with a weird stare. I mentally slapped myself at the embarrassment. It's okay, Aoi! You're being humiliated for a good cause, GOOD CAUSE!

Almost there.. Sakuno, I'm coming to save you!

"FIIGHTTT OOOOHHHHH- SAKUNO!" I exclaimed when I reached them. "Ahahaha, I never knew you were here!"

She gave me one of those shocked yet relieved looks (and part confused). Her head tilted at me, then to Ryoma. Che, the transfer. He lifted an eyebrow at me, unfazed, and not moving an inch.

I stopped my jog and gave her a hearty pat on the back. "Oh." I turned to Echizen. "You're the transfer right?"

"Yeah."

"Ooo it's nice meeting you. Sorry, but could I borrow Sakuno for a moment? We actually decided to sign up for the tennis team together-"

Her jaw dropped.

"And well, I can't quite find the registration, so we might have to yeah, you know. Alright, see ya!"

I grabbed Sakuno's arm and we dashed off to the shedhouse, leaving Ryoma behind. She bombarded me with a truckload of questions when we got there, and it took me a while to answer them all.

"Did you hear the whole thing?" she asked.

"Slighty? "

There was a few whines and apologies after that. Sakuno was never the type to keep a straight face, nor stay angry for a while though, so that issue was solved. Most of it was cleared up, actually, minus a particular problem. I would say it really ripped a page off the book.

"But besides that, didn't you say we were joining the tennis team?"

I nodded with one eye closed. "Yepp. I'm glad I did too, it was the only thing I could think of at the momen- ahh Noooo, not that I was _eavesdropping_ or anything, hah no way, just thaa-"

"Demo Aoi," she interrupted me. "..Does that mean we have to join it then?"

I froze in place.

Uh oh.

I never agreed on playing tennis.

----------------------

**A/N**: Sorry, I've only watched Prince of Tennis recently so I'm not familiar with many characters, thus they may be OOC ;o;. And the spelling on names might be wrong. xox;.

Please no _flaming_ ;o;. Itdoesn't make karenuuh-chan feel very happy TT.

- FL1Pflop. / KARenn!.


	2. Signs and Cleaning Duties

**Author's Note**: heyo again :D. yeeeey I have reviewers -huggles you all-. I lavv you all!. You have just made karennn's day very happy :). lavv. Thank yoohs for reading.

**Demonic0011**, sorry if I you didn't understand ToT. The main character (the one who's talking) is Aoi, well, Aoi Miyanami to be exact XD. She's an original character.Tomoko isn't nararating the story (I don't like her character much so I don't think I'll be adding her in ;o;).

This chapter was quickly done so I wasn't able to proofread it much. Hope it still turned out well /. So hm, I guess that should be it :). N-joy :3.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its' characters (though I love it) :). I do own Aoi and storyline :D.

**Reference**:  
Itai - Ow. or ouch.  
Mada mada dane - Something Ryoma tends to say XD.  
Gomen - Sorry.  
Sensei - teacher.  
-sound-. - To emphasize sounds like, "CRASH".

CHAPTER**TWO**: Signs and Cleaning Duties.

I woke up this morning and found myself clutching to my sheets desperately. I'd have to play that dumb tennis in the afternoon, and stay even later to finish up school duties (my turn to be Mr. Janitor). Well, that's great! There goes a good two hours of my time! And if my mood wasn't depressing enough, I got a call early from Sakuno.

Too lazy to answer, I let the answering machine handle her.

- Hello, it's Aoi! I'm not in at the moment, please leave a message after the beep! - _beeeeeeep_.

- "_Aoi, It's Sakuno! Sorry to call early in the morning, but I just wanted to let you know our first tennis practise will actually be this morning_ -"

I grunted and banged my head into my pillow. While she continued talking, I took a glance at my alarm clock.

- ".._at 6:00am_-"

Whatta coincidence.

- _"..Which is now actually. Sorry I couldn't call earlier. I had to wait for grandma to finish her call. She only informed me a few minutes earlier. Well, I'm off to Seigaku now for practise. I'll tell the senpais you might be a bit late, if you can make it, or that your busy. I'll see you at school then!_ "

- _beeeeeeeep-_

My morning, as you can see, wasn't very ideal for me.

Oddly, it was like a warning that the rest of my day wouldn't be that fancy either. But being my idiotic self, I didn't listen to that warning. I'd have to pay a price for it later on.

The first follow-up to this bad aura type of thing was tennis practise. Though it was sudden notice, I rushed to school and managed to arrive at about 6:15 (Yees, I didn't take a bath this morning, which was a stupid thing to do).

"You made it!" Sakuno exclaimed at the courts. "I didn't think you'd get my message!"

I groggily played with the strings of my racket. Continously pulling on a certain one, I replied, "Haha noo I got it. I rushed over right away. But I'm still kinda sleepy."

She pouted. "You should sleep earlier. 2:00am isn't the time to be playing video games."

I sheepishly stuck my tongue out at her. She was probably right.

Strangely, the string I continued to pull on loosened itself after every tug. It was all too quick for me too see, but the string suddenly snapped and whipped at my leg. All I remembered was feeling a searing pain rip into my thigh.

"AACK!" My body threw itself back, and I anchored into the floor.

Sakuno gasped and started to panic. "Eh? Aoi? Aoi! Somebody help!"

And well, that was problem number one. Yeeepp, you can bet that injury hurt like hell all over again. Luckily though, it died out after a few hours. And I ended up missing the first two periods in school, which was an awesome bonus for me.

Kawamura-senpai (An upperclassman I met today) carried me up two flights of stairs and into the nurse's office. He happened to be at the scene, and panicked, which I found weird since I didn't even know him. He was a nice guy, though, and talked me through the aftermath of my injury.

"Itai! I-tai, tai tai taaaaai.. It stings," I admitted.

My eyes strayed from looking at it. It was a trouble enough to feel the alchohol sink into my skin. The nurse blowed air into the wound every so and then, which was another killer.

"Are you all right?" he asked, worriedly. That was a phrase he asked commonly, I learned. I nodded at him, who sat uncomfortably on the stool across from me.

"You don't have to look if it makes you nauseous," I said. "I can't thank you enough for carrying me up here."

He shook his head. "Ah, no need to thank me! It would've been rude of me not to."

It was hard to smile with something constantly picking at my thigh.

He left when the morning bells rang, and I asked him to tell Sakuno I was all right, if and when he saw her. The school nurse, which was well-trained actually, gave me loathsome stitches after. It took one period to do, then another period for rest.

Walking wasn't as bad as my imagination, either.

When I thought I had everything planned, rotten luck hit me again at fourth period.

It was during science class, when we were disecting this nasty pig stuff. Sakuno, Echizen and I were grouped by sensei, and each of us had our own assigned duties.

Echizen - Notes.  
Sakuno - Observations.

And. Well, that left me with the disecting job.

"Fun fun fun," I commented, sarcastic-ness in my voice dripping. My nose cringed as I lightly tapped the spoiled animal.

"You actually have to touch that?" Ryoma asked.

"Please don't make it sound as bad as it seems. My day's been horrible already," I sighed.

"Oh yeah, you hurt yourself right?" he pressed on.

"Who told you that? Heck yeah, I got hurt, but I didn't hurt myself. It was that stupid racket." I started to untie the ropes that held the dead pig together. "Where'd Sakuno disappear off to anyway?"

"Washroom," he replied, nonchalantly. "Where'd you buy your racket?"

"Garage Sale."

"..Mada mada dane."

I turned to face him and raised an eyebrow lazily. "Mada who?"

"The strings were loosened. You should get a new one, the one you have right now is hopeless. Don't you know anything?"

I twitched and decided to ignore him. Stupid Echizen.. if not for Sakuno, I would have probably sat on him right now. Frustruatedly, I ripped at the pigs' legs. "Ughh!" we commented, hearing its bones crack in the process.

"It stinks," he muttered.

The liquid, that was smothered over the animal, spit onto our lab coats, the tables and the floor. I had a sudden urge of racing into the washroom.

"Ryoma-kun! Aoi!" Sakuno popped up from behind. "Sorry I'm late, I was in the wa-"

-sliiiippp!-

She slid over the pig fluid and flew straight into me. We yelped as we tumbled into the floor together..

With the pig.

"RYUZAKI-SAN! MIYANAMI-SAN!" the teacher boomed at us. "What're you two doing? Stop fooling around with the project and get that mess cleaned immediately!"

Mutters and stares dashed our way. I sniffled. I was damp, the stupid animal was cringing at my lap, and the gash on my thigh sizzled as the liquid flowed onto it. And I was having a horrible, horrible day.

"Mada mada dane."

I threw the pig at Ryoma.

And that was problem number two of my amazing day. Then for the final and most awaited, problem number three! Which was the worst of them all.

It was between evening and night, where most of the school cleared up already. The skies were already streaking violet rays by this time, and the clouds gave off some signs of rainfall.

Sakuno and I were assigned to clean up duties for the week, so we decided on splitting it. She'd clean the bottom floor (which was always the messiest) and I'd do the top two floors (which were fairly clean for the most part). I was already feeling sticky and dirty by now, and wished that I took a quick bath in the morning instead of just rushing off to school.

It was around mopping the floors I started to get really lazy. It got to the point I strolled into the nearest classroom to take a smaaaall break. Just a few minutes, I was sure that it wouldn't hurt.

How could a clueless girl like me know it was the road to another dilemma?

Normally, the only ones in the school right now would be Sakuno and I, and some random teachers who decided to finish things up for no particular reason. Instead, I opened the door to find a boy cuddling himself, head resting on desk and quietly snoozing. I dropped the bucket carefully, and tilted the mop to rest on a desk.

I watched for a while and narrowed down the possibilities. '_Oh_,' I thought. '_He must have overslept_.'

The boy winced, but it didn't disturb the peaceful look on his face. 'Nnn..' he mumbled.

Quietly laughing, I started to tip-toe out of the classroom. It was stupid of me to forget I last left the bucket to sit near my feet.

-CLANKK!-

"...Hmm?" his eyes opened to half-lids.

-CRASHH!-

Ohhh shieeeeeeeeet!

-SPLAAASH!-

I squeezed my eyes shut as the dirty water flooded over the floors. 'Stupid Bucket!' I cursed under my breath.

"Ah-" exclaimed the boy, which I realized was an upperclassman when he rose to his feet. "Are you all right there?"

I must've looked like a complete nerd! Scrambling to get up, I started to say, "Oh, gomen senpai! I'm all ri-"

And the bucket decided to strike it's misfortunes again. My feet were tangled into it, don't ask me how. Nervous and anxious, I tried to kick it off me, but it only threw me off balance even more.

Then there was the fall. You know, the typical fall in your 'boy love girl' story, except this time, his catch didn't exactly work out as planned, and we both pummeled into the floor. Oh, and also, my thigh crashed into the edge of a desk, and it started to burn again. Oh, and did I mention too, my arm elbowed straight into his face?

I wouldn't be surprised if it had left a bruise.

"SORRY!" I cried. "Sorry sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" It was an automatic reflex to rise again, but for some eerie reason, my body refused to move. I guess the fatigue-ness really caught up to me. It just felt like dead skins and bones, and a messed up brain working together.

Sakuno suddenly rampaged in with worry. "Aoi!" she asked, followed shortly by a, "Eh? Fuji-senpai too!"

I mentally slapped myself in the forehead.

The day couldn't get any worse.

----------------------

A/N: btw, one last thing 8. Is it "Shuusuke" or "Syuusuke"? because I see it written both ways ;o;. Sorreeeey ;o;

Can you tell I got lazy in the end?. X).


	3. One Last Problem

**Author's Note**: Third chapter :D. This one might be a bit confusing, sry about that 8/. I'll provide a summary if you don't understand XD. Well, many people seem to be getting mixed up ;o; So I have to point something out

**NOTE: **Miyanami Aoi is an original character who is nararating the story. Tomoko is not in the story (I pretty much replaced her with Aoi). And I don't think Tomoko will be appearing anytime soon ;o;

SOOOO SORRY! to the people who got mixed up ;o;. You can punchu karennn XoX.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its' characters (though I love it) :). I do own Aoi and storyline :D.

**Reference**:  
Itai - Ow. or ouch.  
-sound-. - To emphasize sounds like, "CRASH".

CHAPTER**THREE**: One last problem

"ITAI!" I yelped. Sakuno constantly muttered to herself while carefully dabbing a wet cloth onto the wound. With determination in her eyes, she said, "Just a bit more..."

"Itai Itai Itaaaaai itai itai," I rambled on, mostly to keep myself from budging. My lips turned sore from all the nibbling I was doing. I could picture them swelling up in my wacked imagination.

"THERE!" Sakuno declared. She let out an exasperated sigh and fell back to sit on her bottom. Sweaty hands rose to wipe her forehead. I, on the other hand, shook my trembling legs and pulled on a set of hairstrands.

"It's burning Sakunooo," I complained like a 2 year-old.

She grimaced with worry. "Gomen. Did I press too hard?"

Shaking my head, I replied, "Nahh. It's nothing you did. It's the stupid thing that'll sting up when it feels like it."

Trying to calm the quivering, I leaned further back into the chair and eyed the ceiling. Sakuno commented, "You should cover that up more, ne?"

I groaned.

The aftermath of my problems start to take effect.

Aftermath of problem number 1: Mild craziness and blistering pain.  
Aftermath of problem number 2: Light hate for Echizen building.  
Aftermath of problem number 3: Cross out number one. _Extreme_ craziness and life-threatning pain.

I whimpered, "I wanna go homee."

She smiled sweetly. "I'll walk you home. Just let me put these away and I'll be right back." Grabbing a hold of the mop, she inquired, "What's the combination to your shoe locker?"

"0-40-29. Twice to the left, once right, to the spot."

I shut my eyes close and dreaded on, "Arigatou Sakunooo. I love youu."

I heard a light chuckle before footsteps that died off into the distance. I owe that girl a tenfold.

Speaking of tenfolds, I felt like folding myself into a ball ten times for my idiotic-ness. I made a fool of myself in front of my senpai. And no, he wasn't any average senpai, he was a really good looking one at that.

I think his name was Fuji (that's what Sakuno called him earlier). Gosh, he was the prettiest boy I have EVER seen in my life. He could've literally passed as a woman.. I think he's even prettier than me, which is kinda sad.

After that accidental fall, Sakuno barged in on us and helped us up individually. I didn't make eye-contact with him after that, obviously, because I knew there was this blush of deep red crawling up my cheeks, and that wasn't for him to see. Oh, nono, I know what you're thinking. Hahh, it's not because of that, it's because I was totally embaressed and tired.

"Are you all right?" he asked about three times, with a light genuine laugh to add after. I'd say yes without turning to face him.

After realizing the time, he left immediately. Then it was just me and her.

And the end of my horrible day!

I was getting kind of cheery now, and found myself daydreaming. I'd be walking inside my one-room apartment to the smell of cake creeping up the walls and into my nostrils. I'd have a comfy bed to roll around in, or just rest.

Oh! But most of all.. Bathe. Oh man, you wouldn't know how disgusting I felt without taking a bath. Showering was what I looked forward to the most.

Little did I know there was oneeee last problem awaiting me at the end of the day.

It was a problem that lugged on for days.

It started when I lifted my eyelids from a little nap. I noticed a whiteobject inside the desk, and thought, _'Oh what's that?'_ Shrugging, I reached for it out of curiosity.

Now, when a noise abrupts out of nowhere in a completely silent room, you can't help but yelp or jump, or react in some crazy way. There was this _'thump'_ from my right, so I kinda threw myself off balance, and dropped the white figure.

"ACK!" I added.

"..It's just me," Sakuno said laughing. The thud came from her opening the door. Sighing, I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Oh, I think you dropped thi-" She bent down to obtain the figure. "Eh? I never knew you had an iPod nano."

I eyed her, confused. "iPod? I don't."

Her hand, with the object, leveled to my face. My happiness dropped like an anchor.

"Shit, I dropped an iPod!"

It was her turn to look at me confused. Worriedly, I grabbed it and switched it on. "Please work, please work.." I muttered, blasting up the volume.

We waited. Nothing. "Dammit dammit.." I mumbled again, tapping it by it's side. "It's an iPod nano too!" I cried. "These things cost a fortune!"

"I'm lost," Sakuno commented.

Still trying to get it to work, I explained to her my misfortunes of an accident. It was just to look at it, really. But once again, my idiotic reflexes kicked in, and added another broken bone of the day.

After wasting a few good 7 minutes, I realized that it was broken for good.

"I give uuuuup." Frustruatedly, I kicked the leg of the desk.

"Ano," she said, abruptly. "You don't think that.. Nah, it couldn't have been.."

I implied, "What?"

"Well, it's just that.. you mentioned Fuji-senpai was sleeping here, right? Well, assuming that that's the desk he slept in.. was it?"

A chill crept up my spine when I foresaw the direction her theory was heading.

"..Yeah, it was."

"Weeell.. do you think that, possibly, he left it behind? Umm.. it might be his iPod?"

I gulped.

Some deity out there hates me right now.

---------------------------------------------------

"Aoi.. I'm not too sure about this."

"Don't worry, Sakuno! Just gimme a few days.. it'll be easy, trust me. Want me to walk you through it again?"

She took a deep, sharp breath. "Yes, please."

"Okay. Just pretend you know nothing about the iPod. And if Fuji-senpai asks you, act like you didn't even know he had an iPod. Then, in a few days, I'll earn enough money from a part-time job to buy another iPod and I'll return it to him. I'll just tell him I found it while passing by the lost and found."

She nodded.

"It's technically not considered lying if we're half telling the truth."

"Really? It's half truth?" she asked.

"Yeah, because he's still gonna get it back. Don't worry about it, I have it all covered."

And that was the plan, pretty much. We decided it over phone last night, and recapped over it during tennis practise. It would be easy. We just had to stall for a little longer. Super easy..

Right?

"Miyanami-san! Loosen up!" Senpai yelled. "You're stiff, you can never play tennis like that!"

"H- Hai!" I answered.

Did I mention tennis was going to be my deathbed someday?

"See? Isn't tennis fun," Sakuno giggled. I nodded, wearily.

Tennis isn't exactly the sport of my affection. But well, I'm all in it for Sakuno.

We practised our swings for a full 2 hours in the morning, and I got a small stiffness bulging on my arm afterwards. Pfft, what was so good about the damn sport anyways?

During english class (first period), I could've sworn my arm was getting palpitations, if that was even possible. I hardly wrote and spent most of my time shaking the stiffness out.

Once the bell rang, I happily skipped into the halls, knowing the next period was lunchtime for me. While making my way to my locker, I spotted Fuji-senpai within the crowd. I stiffened.

Oh no. What if he'll ask me about the iPod?

I returned the smile he gave me quickly and walked over to the nearest locker, fumbling with the lock. Maybe if he sees me in a rush, he won't approach me, right? Yeah, just keep going at it Aoi!

Oh, heck, there he comes. Che. Time for plan B.

"Oh, Miyanami-san.. was it?" he smiled. I only noticed now he had a very feminime voice to mask his face as well.

"Y- Yeeaup, that's me," I nervously chuckled.

"Ah. I was right," he ruffled his hair lightly. "Can I ask you a quick question?"

I continued to fumble with the lock in my hands. "Sure, go ahead."

"Well, remember last night? I was wondering if you had seen an iPod nano lying around anywhere, by any chance. I accidentally left it behind, and I can't seem to find it," he laughed.

I numbed up. Ahh shieet, it was his iPod after all.

"O- Oh, an iPod?" I replied, as calmy as possible. "Haha, sorry noo. Sakuno and I left right after. Speaking of which," I attempted to switch the topic. "Won't you be late for your next class? I have lunch now, but I'm not sure about you.."

"Oh, no worries, I have lunch now too."

Oh. Frigg. He did? How come I didn't know? He was never even in the cafeteria during my lunches!

"Oh. That's.. nice." I smiled, shakily. "Oh! Well umm.. If I see an iPod somewhere, I'll be sure to tell you ne?"

His smile grew wider. "Thank you for that, Miyanami-san."

He was about to turn to leave, but not before he added, "By the way, are you having locker trouble?"

I glanced at the lock in my hand. "Oh! OHHH no nonono, nope I'm perfectly fine! It just.. won't seem to open right now, you know? I- I think I forgot the combination, but you know, I have it written down.. Somewhere. Eheh."

He chuckled.

"Thanks though!" I exclaimed.

"See you around." He waved a hand and joined the crowd once again.

Well, that turned out okay, I guess. Hm, not as bad as I thought. Minus the whole locker issue. Shrugging, I flicked the lock and spun around to leave.

Suprisingly, Echizen was standing there, staring with an unemotional look. I groaned.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want now?"

Without budging, he lifted a finger to point offside.

"What were you doing with my locker?"

I grimaced. Oh, frigg, out of all the people in our school, the locker had to be his? I shooed him off and left.

"I dunno, see ya."

I had better things to do.

--------------------------------

**A/N:** Thank you to the reviewers -huggles you all-. Oh, and also a side note to **Posterior Praiser**: I actually wrote my story in first POV because I find it easier to write than third POV. haha dumb me XP. Do you think I should change it into third?. O: and also, I would use a present character if I knew more XD. I hardly know any of Hyoutei.. I'm pretty new to the series. And I'm working on the japanese :3. Thank you for pointing that out -huggles you-.

**To the readers:** Sorry about the boring chapter. It's not at the plot yet, so I keep rushing it XoX;;. I need to slow down XP. But it'll all tie in after :3. -huggles-.


	4. Waiting for the Stars to Shine

**Authors Note**: Baack :D. I'm actually supposed to be doing chores right now, but lala XD. Thank you for the review ne, it made my day -huggles and hearts-. Here's the fourth chapter:

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its' characters (though I love it) :). I do own Aoi and storyline :D.

**Reference**:  
Gomen - Sorry/I'm sorry  
Gomen-naisai - I'm really sorry.  
- - - - - - - - Time interval/Scene Change.

CHAPTER**FOUR**: Waiting for the Stars to Shine.

So, the 'Fuji-senpai' scheme, or plan, or whatever you brand it as, was working preeetty well. Sakuno and I didn't even have to avoid him, since we rarely saw him anyways. The only encounters were during tennis practises, and it was pretty much a 'hi/bye' type of thing.

My paycheck would be coming in a week, and I could owe back the iPod. Seven days and it'd all be over!

..But I should've gone over some consequences before getting ahead of myself.

Normally, encounters with a classmate outside of school perimeters would drop to a percentage of about.. letsay, 48? Nono, wait, that's too high. Maybe 23. Yeah, that's better, a 23. I don't bet stakes on a number as low as 23, but Fuji-senpai taught me otherwise.

There was this new recently-built mall near the school premises, and Sakuno and I promised eachother we would go together on Sunday. Our plan backfired. Rumours said on Friday the mall was completely filled, so much as you had to literally squeeze yourself through the crowd and make it through in one piece. Minako-san in science class told me she was stuck lurking around in a 'Leon's furniture type of store. Sakuno and I then agreed we'd stick to next week.

So she suggested, Why not go to an amusement park instead? And don't get me wrong, that was a completely perfectionate idea!

..But not if Sakuno got lost on the way.

Sighing, I threw a pebble down the pavement and leaned back onto the bench. 'Maybe _I should've escorted her_,' I thought.

Pause. _'Of course you should've, Aoi! STUPID STUPID! It's Sakuno!'_

I gave myself a smack on the forehead and scowled. Whatta day this would turn out to be. That girl really needs to get a cellphone. A meet-up place just won't do.

For a good 2 hours, I constantly changed positions in my seat restlessly. Every 15 minutes, there'd be a quick glance at my wristwatch, but that was pretty much it.

Somewhere in there, it reached the point I stood and walked around in semi-circles. But I got back down and waited again.

And again.

And again.

And again and again and again and again and the 'agains' never ended.

Until unknowingly, my eyes started to feel really heavy all of a sudden. Shrugging, I curled up into a ball and rested on the wooden figure. A quick nap couldn't hurt.. and Sakuno would wake me up when she spotted me.. she'd definetely come.. even if it had to be at 9 in the night, she'd make it.. she just would.. because she was like that..

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mmmhmm..

"...Aoi-san..?"

Yeeees that's me.

".. Aoi-san? Aoi-san?"

That's what people call me.

".. Aoi-san? You awake? Aoi-san? Aoi-san?"

You know, if you keep saying "AoiAoi" for a long while.. it sounds like your saying, "A wheeeee!"

I heard a laugh.

".. Weird girl."

Oh. Oh damn. Don't tell me..

Doooon't teeeell meeee..

Blink. I lifted my eye to a half-lid. Oh funny, that guy looks a bit like Fuji-senpai. His face resembles him juust slightly. And that laugh, that voice, is scarily identical. Oh, and how can I forget the eyes? They're like swirls and pools of cerulean blue and you just seem to get lost in them.

And, oh heck, is that seriously him?

"..Aoi-san," he chuckled. "You seem to be mumbling in your sleep."

Flustered, I darted upwards and jerked away from him. _'Run away!'_ were the first words I imagined in my head. But the next thing I knew, I felt a hard, strong something that came in contact with my wryed forehead. And the next thing I saw was Fuji-senpai's head thrown back.

Rewind, rewind rewind. I just headbutt Fuji-senpai's face. And heck, it was an embarrassing thought.

"Gomen-naisai, Gomen-naisai!" I nervously squeaked, bowing my head repeatedly.

Unexpectedly, he reacted very akwardly. Regaining his composure, he just pressed onto the bridge of his nose and smiled, "Oh, don't worry, it's all right."

I looked closely. "FUJI-SENPAI!" I pointed an accusing finger. "YOUR NOSE! ITS BLEEDING!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -

Fuji-senpai must truly hate me. He despises me, and I just know it! I broke his iPod, I broke his nose, how many more things do I have to break? It's like, whenever I'm with him, something always breaks, or something bad always just seems to happen! Somehow, I get the feeling we were just made to live on opposite ends of the earth.

And if he didn't hate me now, he would learn to hate me later on.

"So.." I striked up a conversation. "Does your nose feel better? Like, does it feel umm.. fractured in any way?"

"No, it feels fine really," he re-assured me. "Don't worry yourself over it."

I innerly sighed. I felt so poor. He probably thinks I'm some cheap, ego-centrical bastard who can't afford to take him to the hospital. But really, he was the one who refused! So I just offered him some extra pocket tissue I had to stick up his nose or something and stop the bleeding.

And we just sat on the bench together.

"Ermm.. it's a surprise to see you here," I commented.

"You too," he laughed. "I actually just came back from that new mall and I spotted you. You seemed dead, so I walked over and it turns out you were sleeping!" The laugh again.

I felt un-easy listening to him say that, while he just kept on pressing the bridge of nose with his head lay back. Well, all the better to converse without eye contact!

"Oh, haha I see. I was actually waiting for Sakuno and I ended up falling asleep."

He nodded.

".. Have you seen her by any chance?" I asked.

"Not at all. Sorry."

I slumped in my seat and dipped my head. She was starting to worry me. Where was a girl like her at 8 in the night?

"Don't you think you should be heading home now?" hewent on. "It's nearly midnight."

"Gomen, senpai. I'm still waiting for Sakuno.. I wonder where she is, it's starting to worry me."

"I'm sure she'd be worried too, knowing you're out here alone in the night, waiting for her."

"I'm not alone Fuji-senpai," I corrected. "I'm with you."

He opened his eyes and tilted his head over to look my way. There was a tint of surprise in his eyes, I think. I couldn't tell with the midnight sky wavering over it.

"You're right," he flashed another smile. "I forgot."

I blurted, "Oh, not that you have to stay here with me! Actually, shouldn't you get going now too? I don't mean to hold you up or anything!"

"I'm waiting for something too," he admitted.

I withdrew. "Oh. Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh.. okay then." Putting some wit upfront, I implored, "What're you waiting for?"

A brief silence interrupted our conversation.

"Something. I'm waiting for something."

Fuji-senpai, I learned today, is a very mysterious guy. There's just these things about him that seperate him from the rest of the crowd. It was a feeling that edged me away from him, for some reason. Maybe it was because I didn't like getting involved with people I couldn't read.

Those are the kinds of people you really regret having problems with.

"Do you think Ryuuzaki-san will come?"

I answered confidently, "Yeah, of course!"

Sakuno never did come. Nevertheless, we waited with eachother aimlessly. We just sat either talking, or having our small reminiscing moments. For some odd reason, it only occured to me after that he started to adress me as 'Aoi-san', not 'Miyanami-san.' I didn't read too much into it, though, and figured he just felt comfortable around me like that.

Some time before we parted ways, he commented, "Look. The stars have come out."

We both averted our gaze to the silhouettes and streaks of the night skies.

I wondered if that's what he was waiting for.


	5. A Bad Omen

**Author's Note**: LOL weell, Im supposed to be doing history homework right now for summer school, but I instead wrote this up LOL. I've really made Fuji OOC here.. ;o;. raaaawr. soooorrey!.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its' characters (though I love it) :). I do own Aoi and storyline :D.

**Reference**:  
Sensei - Teacher  
Senpai - Upperclassman

- - - - - - - - - - - - - Scene Change  
It's 1st POV., so all thoughts should come from her.

CHAPTER**FIVE**: A Bad Omen.

To fill you in on a brief update, it's now 6 days before I get my paycheck, and five minutes before I can complain to Sakuno and flood her with never-ending questions on exactly why she never showed up yesterday and why Fuji-senpai, I concluded last night, was the definition of a bad omen.

So I'm sitting here anxiously and killing the time by flicking eraser specks off my desk. The door is two lengthy desks away from me, so I occasionally glance over there and muse about when she'll come. Or maybe she might just be late for homeroom. Her and her tardiness.

Oh wait, there she comes, trodding over to my desk.

"I'm so sorry about last night!" she blurted.

I pouted and rested my chin on my hand. "You didn't show up."

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry!" she did an exact 45 degree bow. "Grandmother made me run some errands, and I thought it'd be quick, but it ended up taking the whole night! And I tried to call but-"

"You don't have a cellphone," I finshed. "And mines' was out of batteries," I added a laugh. "I forgot to recharge it in the morning."

She didn't sigh, or feel relieved anyhow. "Sorry, I'm sorry!" was the only two words that flew out of her mouth. It was like a broken tape recorder. I wondered, again, how I ended up being friends with a worrywart of a girl like this.

"It's alright, Sa-Ku-No!" I beamed. "I'm not angry at all!"

At least, I wasn't anymore.

".. Okay. But I'm really sorry," she bowed her head. I pulled my hand over her shoulder and pushed on her forehead with a finger. "Don't worry about it!"

Drawing back to my chair, I went on, "But anyways, I have something to tell you! Guess who I saw yesterday!"

She seemed to forget about our previous topic, and began to stack her textbooks into her desk. "Uhmm.. R- Ryoma-kun?"

"Nooo," I laughed, amused by her answer. "Not him! It's a senpai, Sen-Pai!" I stressed out the two syllables.

"Ehh.. In that case.. uhmm.. Fuji-senpai?"

"Bingo!" I snapped my fingers. "It was so coincidental, I was surprised myself. But it made me think about it, and I finally realized something last night after everything that's been happening."

She asked interestedly, "What?"

"I think Fuji-senpai is my bad omen!"

Her face screwed up into a confused messy look. "Huh? Really? He doesn't seem like one.. at all. What happened yesterday to make you think that?"

"No no, it's not just about yesterday! It's like, literally everything! First, the iPod, then, the racket-"

"Something happened to your racket?"

"Yeah, when I got this," I pointed to my thigh and reminded her.

"Oh.. does it still hurt?" she wrinkled her eyebrows.

"No, it's gotten better. But it hurt a lot before," I admitted. "And also, when we got in trouble with the Science teacher, about the pig thing. Sakuno, you know yourself that you never get in trouble with the teachers. And yesterday, I think I broke his nose."

"You what!" she exclaimed. I lowered my head, ashamed. "Yeeeah. Kind of sad, isn't it?"

She stared for a while before replying, "Maybe you're right."

I heaved a sigh, heavily. My feet squeezed in to barely tip the end of my chair, and I hugged my legs comfortably. When you plan things, and you think it'll be incredibly easy, sometimes you're exceedingly deceived. Another sigh followed the dead hush pinned between us.

"..Or maybe I'm the bad omen to him," I commented, just prior to the ring of the bells.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For Phys. Ed class later on during the day, we started a new unit.

Tennis.

Tennis, out of all the things I hated in the world. Bad omens and their damn bad effects.

"Now, bend your legs like thiis, and stick out your behind like thiiis, and just keep your eyes on the net like thiiis."

I grimaced at the teacher and looked over to the other courts. There were two other Phys. Ed classes who were out, and they, unlike our class unfortunately, were just swinging their rackets around and doing whatever. Our teacher always made us start with an hour-long lesson, and I forget most of what she's saying anyways.

This time, I didn't have to pay attention though, thanks to my wonderful friend Sakuno who practices tennis continuously and nearly embeds the tennis rulebook into my head.

-POK-.

Ow.

Ooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

"Miyanami-san!" the teacher covered me in her shadow. "When I conduct a lesson, you listen to that lesson and nothing more or less. Understand?"

I rubbed my forehead in a circular motion and sulked. "Understood. Sorry, Sensei."

The sunlight twinkled on the rim of her glasses as she grinned evilly. "Alright. Thank you."

That's the thing about bad omens. They start unexpectedly, stop unexpectedly, but works its' ways in a heck of a wicked way. (And by wicked, I mean wicked as in evil)

Curse Japanese Teachers. They always just throw things that weigh a pound at you when they catch you off-guard.

"All right class, get into pairs of two and practise your swinging together. The balls will be in the cart over there."

I waved over at Minako-san and flashed a smile. "Oh yes, and Miyanami-san," the teacher added. I flinched.

"You wouldn't mind kindly volunteering to clean the storage room, do you?"

There's another thing I forgot to mention about bad omens.

They suck.

"Yeeees," I muttered, dropping my shoulders. And into the storage room I headed over. My great days are slowly dissolving into bad days. It's going to be rain season soon, and I know it. A gut-feeling tells me so.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -

Update: 2 days before paycheck, 5 days before I can stop cleaning the storage room. (According to the teacher)

But if my theory about the bad omen is right, the '5 days before I can stop cleaning the storage room' will end happily in two, and I won't have to feel inferior around that witch teacher anymore.

Life is going to be oh-so-lovely.

In the past few days, I avoided any traces of Fuji-senpai and Sakuno did the same, but he was really pestering, unknowingly. I think he has some kind of superior-ness, that he's able to pop out from anywhere at anytime.

There was the time when Sakuno and I were walking over to the washrooms, during lunch, and he coincidentally exited the boy's C.R at the moment. He noticed us and smiled, "Ah, Aoi-san and Ryuuzaki-san."

We smiled nervously. "H- hi, Fuji-senpai."

"It's sunny out, isn't it?" he asked, genuinely.

I immediately covered, "Yeah, real sunny, but I have to use the washroom urgently, sorry! We'll talk to you later, it was a nice conversation!"

Sakuno nodded repeatedly. He laughed, "Alright, Sorry about that. See you around."

We made a beeline into the stalls. But the thing was, I wasn't lying about needing to use the washroom, immediately. Sakuno- Well, she was just accompanying me.

"Aoi," her voice passed through the door barrier, "Nothing bad happened! Maybe it's wearing off."

I heard her turn theknob to the faucet. Pulling up my skirt, I pushed downthe handle to the toilet with my feet.

"You're right," I said. But suddenly, the toilet water churned and started to spit out chunks of water at me. In a frantic, I unlocked the door and scrambled to the faucets. "S- Sakuno it's flooding!" I pointed a finger, frantically. "But it was only pee! How can it flood!"

She whirled around and examined the toilet. "You're right! What's wrong with it!"

Seconds after, the faucet that she had turned on blew off a **metal** knob that went tornadoing into the back of my head. A fountain of water rose to smash off the wall of the ceiling. We were soaking wet.

The teachers told us after that the school received a temporary water problem, but I didn't believe it. It definitely had something to do with the omen.

Anyway, enough of that. There were just occasional occurrings similar to that incident, which where bound to end sometime soon.

Happy with this thought, I arrived at school 10 minutes earlier than my normal time (even though we didn't have tennis practise on Thursdays) and skipped over to the shoe lockers. There, Fuji-senpai was on the bench, hands wrapped around his racket. I pinned my eyes on him confidently. '_It's not the time to run away!_' I told myself with determination. '_Two more days and it's all over! HAH! You have been over run, Fuji-senpai!_'

"You're here early," I startled him, with a sadistic smile on my face.

He looked up and replied, "Tennis practise. Oh wait, the girls' team are excluded from Tuesdays and Thursdays, am I right?"

"Right," I nodded my head. The oblivious boy didn't even notice the evil smile I had. He really was clueless.

"Why are you here so early?" he pressed on.

"Oh, nothing really. Nothing at all. I just had this good feeling this morning."

I stole the empty space beside him on the bench. "Really?" he smiled, laying his racket on the floor. "I had a good feeling too. And my good feeling was right, unpredictably."

I questioned him, "Huh?"

He shuffled through his pockets before fishing out a sparkling new iPod. "Ryuuzaki-san found my lost iPod and returned it to me this morning."

I paused. Feelings of happiness wavered inside of my head and were replaced with confusion. Something was wrong about this. Terribly wrong.

_Someone was lying_.


End file.
